Monday, December 01, 2008

Wales ended a three-year drought against the top three southern hemisphere sides by knocking off Australia 21-18 in a thriller at the Millennium Stadium. It was the only victory by a northern hemisphere team over a Tri-Nations side this year, adding to the significance of the win.

The hosts scored two fine tries, the best of which was this classic scored by recently crowned IRB World Player of the Year, Shane Williams.

The try oozed class as Williams started and finished it, within five minutes of kickoff. He then played a large part in the Lee Byrne try, beating three defenders before offloading.

The Wallabies themselves scored twice, with the difference between the two sides being a penalty from Stephen Jones, who kicked 11 points in total.

Ioane’s try came with two minutes left, making for a frantic finish, but it was Wales who survived the Aussie fightback to claim only their third success over one of the southern hemisphere's "big three" since rugby turned professional in 1995.

Wales coach Warren Gatland was satisfied, but not ecstatic, after the final whistle.

“Someone had to carry the flag for the northern hemisphere, didn’t they?” said Gatland.

“I think the result was the most important thing because there are still aspects of our performance we can improve on.

“We needed to get the win and I am pretty proud of the performance. I think the best team won and we deserved to win.

“I think we have shown glimpses of what we are capable of. We have put some pride back in the jersey against some of the best teams in the world. That is the first goal we have achieved and the victory against Australia was good. We just have to keep improving.”

Time: 09:44Note: Updated with full highlights. catch them quick, cos they may disapear.

Yeah I'm Irish and I can't see them doing better than third in 6N...at a push. Brilliant try and it was fantastic when he forward booted the ball and it smacked into another Welsh players head. Rugby has been missing the slapstick.

Didn't see the game but from what i hear it was a cracker. Amazing try here aswell! 6 Nations is going to be very interesting next year with Wales looking excellent, Scotland not far behind based on the AI performances, and Ireland and France will of course always be good! Pity the Italians have lost it a bit since running the Aussie's so close! Do their recent results say something about this Australian team which might detract from this Welsh victory? I hope not!

Being as light weight a 13 as I am (160 lbs.), I have to say it's relieving to see someone as small as Williams tear through the pitch. So many of these vids feature you great behemoth types (which are brilliant to watch, don't misunderstand), I start to wonder whether ruggers are getting larger as a whole, then a man like Williams comes along and sets me right.

what a match.And for the neutral, I think it's hard to not root for Wales. They threw caution to the wind.

Shane Williams should have to sleep in a hyperbaric chamber, and be assigned a security detail, including a beefeater. It would be a shame for rugby should anything to happen to him before the Lions Tour.

The ELVs:I find it funny that the ELVs are meant to speed up the game.

However, watching Australia scrummage tells me that perhaps the IRB should work on enforcing existing law.

How many re-sets occur? How much time is wasted?

Could anyone count and time the average number of scrum re-sets in the Tri-Nations, 6N, and RWC, and then break it up in terms of game with & without Australia?

We all know that the scrum is a dark art. However, it seems that there is a distinct disconnect between wanting to speed up the game, and wanting to speed up the game at the expense of your own dis/advantages (i.e. Australia)

However, given the re-sets versus Australia, it is one of these:1. an honest shortcoming in AUS technique2. a cynical ploy by AUS on the pitch3. a traning / selection policy by AUS where scrummaging is not considered a key point of player development or selection criteria.4. a mass conspiracy, on the part of NZL, RSA, the 6N, Argentina, and for that matter, Adnan Khashoggi, Freemasonry, and the NRL.

IMHO, it is #3. Clearly that Australia eschews training for scrummaging, and picking players who bring those skills first.

The ARU seems unwilling to make selection trade-offs necessary to select a safe scrum. Instead, they pick players who bring the best possible team for all other aspects of the game -- save the scrum set piece.

You get players who are more mobile, better ball skills, but never bothered to spend time scrummaging. Remember that each minute of scrummage training displaces training of another skill.

i thort the game was awsum and wales were brill, australia wre lucky 2 b in the game. steven missed 2 easy penalties, martyn shud av scored just b4 half time and the 1st aussie try was a lucky bounce! the score flattered the aussies!wales 2 win the 6n and i hope england get the wooden spoon, i would love that!

NOW THAT'S A RUGBY MATCH!!!!Wales were brilliant throughout the offf-loading was awesome and Andy Powell is a fantastic player surely will be in lions squad if he keeps injury free.Well done wales the ozzies didn't know what hit them. BRILLIANT

Cheyanqui what is it with u and australia, stop bagging their scrum. They Held their own in the tri-nations and demolished the english scrum, you're living in the past, get over it.

Also Wales did play well but i couldnt help but feel hard done buy the ref. The amount of injuries australia have is incredible.1. Horwill2. Ellsom (ireland)3. Palu4. Mortlock (captain)5. Berrick Barnes6. Ashley-Cooper

Fantastic match. Nicely done Wales! If we get our full first squad healthy and can improve a bit on our passing game (which was amazing in this match) then we have a real chance at the World Cup. Wales should win the 6 nations again and Ireland and France will be battling for second. I'd love to see it go Wales, Ireland, Scotland, England, Italy, France . . . but that's pure preference and wishful thinking, nothing realistic.

as a welshman i am extatic about this winbut i am unsure if we wouldve had the ability to slice them up like we did had stirling mortlock been calling the shots in their defense.but we will never knowfair play though, both teams played a cracking game of rugby and gave us something exciting to watch

Load of bollocks.We never win under Alan Lewis, he always punishes us with penalties. So many times we had the ball were going forward and Lewis would pull out some ridiculous ruck infringment to hand the possesion back to Wales. When he finally let Aus play rugby without blowing his bloody whistle we started tearing Wales apart. Five more minutes of possesion without some kind of arbitrary penalty and the game was ours.As for the scrums, Lewis would only talk to the Australians, he had his back to the Welsh scrum at times. Utterly absurd. Terrible reffing, the guy's a joke.